


Burned

by InkyNix



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Randy Orton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 17:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10036436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyNix/pseuds/InkyNix
Summary: "He cared too much, he put his soul into people who might become brothers to him, who needed help and a family, and they ripped his soul out and tore it to shreds."Bray returns to the site of his and Abigail's old home. Luke finds him there.Based on the events of the Smackdown of 2/28/17.





	

            It was gone.

            It was really all gone.

            Bray dropped to his knees in the ashy patch that used to be his home. The home his sister gave him, built for him from scratch, just so he would have one place where he could be safe. The very house in which she was buried, because that’s what she wanted. So she could keep protecting the house even after she was gone.

            He burned it. He burned the hard work of a little girl trying to keep her little brother safe and sheltered. He burned memories of her, sitting in her rocking chair teaching Bray how to weave, dancing around the kitchen when the days got too cold to smile. He burned her.

            A choked sob left Bray’s throat. How could he have been so stupid? It wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before, people lying and deceiving him before kicking him to the curb. He didn’t know why he thought this would be different.

            He cared too much, he put his soul into people who might become brothers to him, who needed help and a family, and they ripped his soul out and tore it to shreds. He trusted too much, and they spat on that trust and burned it, just like Randy did to his home.

            Why did he keep doing this?

            Bray felt hot tears fall down his face. It almost surprised him, he didn’t think he had any more tears to cry. Her chair, her house, her resting place, all crumbled into a pile of gray dust in the middle of the forest. And he’d been all the way in Minnesota, worrying over which man he was going to fight come April, and he couldn’t do anything about it. How was that repaying her kindness? How was that keeping her legacy alive?

            He heard a branch snap behind him and his head snapped around.

            Luke was standing there. Harper had actually come back, his usual tank-top swapped out for a black one, as if he was in mourning. He probably was. He was her friend when she was still alive. He’d helped build the house.

            They stared at each other for a moment, not sure what to think, what to say. Bray abandoned him, and had his life crumble around him as punishment. He didn’t deserve him, and he knew he didn’t.

            Still, Luke walked over, stepping into the ashy gray square. Bray watched him for a long moment, his eyes still wet, but guarded.

            Luke took a breath and said, “I’m sorry.”

            Bray blinked and opened his mouth to respond before Luke cut him off. “I won’t say ‘I told you so’, but I’m sorry that he went to…these lengths. Never in a million years did I think that Randy would actually…”

            “I’m sorry…” Bray’s voice was choppy and hoarse, “I should have listened to you. I should have never chosen him over you, I just…”

            Luke just dropped to his knees and pulled Bray in for a hug. Bray couldn’t stop the gasp from leaving his throat, and the fresh wave of tears that fell from his eyes.

            “No matter what,” Luke muttered in his ear, “She’s with you. She walks beside you, she cheers you on. She’s safe with your mother, and wherever you go, she goes.”

            “He burned her…” Bray choked, “He burned her…”

            “He burned a body.” Luke pulled away to look Bray in the eyes, “He could never burn her.”

            Bray just broke, collapsing into Luke’s grip and sobbing, mumbling incoherent sentences that Luke could barely place as ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘All my fault’. Luke held him tighter, staring at the spot where they’d buried her and rocking her little brother, just like he had when she died. Luke felt sick. He’d promised her that if anything happened to her, he’d keep Bray safe. He was doing a shitty job at upholding that promise.

“I’m sorry.” Luke said back, trying to hush Bray’s crying, “I won’t leave you again. I promise.”

            Neither of them knew how long they stayed like that. The sun was starting to set, so Luke helped Bray to his feet. The younger man stumbled a bit, but seemed to have regained some of his composure.

            “We’ll make him pay.” Luke pressed his forehead against Bray’s, “He’ll regret even thinking of doing something like this.”

            “He’s going to come after my title.” Bray replied, “We’ll get him then. I want his fucking head.”

            Anger. That was more like the Bray Wyatt Luke knew. Luke couldn’t hold back a little smirk. “You’ll get it, Bray.” He ran his thumb across Bray’s cheek, smearing ash across it and leaving a gray streak, “I promise.”

 

* * *

 

            She sat in the creaky rocking chair, humming as she weaved a hat out of straw. Luke couldn’t help but stare at how peaceful she was, like it hadn’t only been a year since she took her baby brother and ran away from their abusive home as their mother was slaughtered, like she wasn’t only thirteen.

            She smiled and looked up. “It’s rude to stare, Luke.” She giggled, her bright blue eyes twinkling.

            Luke blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry.” He said, “You just look so much like a grown-up.”

            “I’ve got to be a grown-up.” She said, putting the half-woven hat aside, “He’s counting on me.”

            Luke turned and looked out the window. Her little brother yelped and cheered happily as he ran after fireflies outside. He managed to catch one, peering through a hole in his clasped hands, grinning widely before opening them and letting the bug go.

            “He seems happy.” Luke commented, looking back at her. Anyone could tell they were related. They shared the same wavy brown hair, the same bright blue eyes, the same smile.

            “He’s gotten so much better since we left.” She stood and watched him out the window, “He’s playing again, Luke. He’s being loud and happy, like little kids should. I haven’t seen him play like that since he was two.”

            They were quiet before she spoke again. “Luke? Promise me that if anything ever happens to me, should I starve or freeze or get sick, that you’ll take care of him.”

            Luke looked at her with wide eyes. “Nothing’s gonna happen to you. You’re the strongest girl I know.”

            “That’s what I thought about Mama.” She looked at him with a sad smile, “Sometimes your time on earth is shorter than you want it to be, and you have to leave behind the people who still need you. I’m preparing now, so if I have to leave him, I know that there’s still someone who will keep him safe for me.”

            Luke looked out the window at the little boy again, who had flopped down onto the grass and was staring up at the glowing bugs. “Alright, I promise. But only if you promise me something too, okay?”

            “What do you want me to promise?” She smiled at him, pushing a curl out of her face.

            “Promise me that you’ll watch us even when you’re gone.” Luke said, “That no matter what we do or where we go, you’ll help keep us as safe and as happy as we possibly can.”

            She gave him a warm look. “I promise.”


End file.
